Kluivert, who is Louis van Gaal's No2 with Holland, said: "Robin went on Thursday morning directly to the hospital and his upper leg was very stiff. We now have to wait but we have good hope. Maybe he can play the Manchester derby."

As expected, City's Sergio Agüero is ruled out of the derby with hamstring injury.

Van Persie's hat-trick ensured the Greek champions' 2-0 lead from the last-16 first leg in Athens was overturned to put United in the quarter-final draw.

The Dutchman suffered the problem when he was hit from behind in the last minute by the centre-back, Kostas Manolas, and collapsed on the turf clutching the back of his left knee.

Van Persie had to be taken off on a stretcher but Moyes downplayed the problem, stating the forward had taken a knee in the back of his leg.

Given Van Persie's three goals took him to 14 in 23 United outings to make him the club's top scorer during the current campaign, Moyes will not want to lose his services.

After a virtually injury-free season last year, Van Persie has again been cursed by setbacks this season as he was for most of his Arsenal career.

On United's summer tour Van Persie suffered a muscle injury in Japan, issues with his toes and groin once the season started, and a problem in mid-December that put him on the sidelines for six weeks.

About this article

Robin van Persie hopeful of making Manchester derby after knee injury

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 10.10 EDT on Friday 21 March 2014.
It was last modified at 04.10 EDT on Tuesday 3 June 2014.
It was first published at 06.20 EDT on Friday 21 March 2014.